A Complete History of the Millennium Falcon

"A Complete History of the Millennium Falcon"

Images of Earth From a Year in Space

"Images of Earth From a Year in Space." Some of the best pics taken by astronaut Scott Kelly during his year (!) on the ISS.

Trust A Robot In Emergencies?

Should you trust a robot in emergencies?: "Subjects show blind obedience to a broken-down robot in a experiment with a mock fire"

Dog Vs. Robot Dog

"Fido vs Spot -- Animal vs Robot"

Hospital Wastewater

"What happens to hospital wastewater?"

Life after the Ashley Madison affair

"It's six months since hackers leaked the names of 30 million people who had used the infidelity website Ashley Madison. Resignations, divorces and suicides followed."

The Chemistry In Lighting A Match

"The Chemistry Involved in Lighting a Match Is Surprisingly Awesome":

With amazing super slow-motion footage of a match head starting to burn as a backdrop, this video explains the chemical reactions involved in lighting a match.

3D Printed Building Maps

"3D Printed Maps Help Blind People Navigate Inside Buildings". More info here.

Robot Therapy Session

"Watch Carrie Fisher Lead a Group Therapy Session for Distressed Robots":

Carrie Fisher has been getting a lot more attention lately thanks to the return of Star Wars last year, and so far she’s been a total champ. On Friday IBM released a new Watson commercial starring Fisher as a robot therapist, and she's probably one of the only people who could make the sketch work.

Open Your Heart

Dr. Jordan Winkler: "10 Easy Steps to Open Your Heart".

Funny and informative. Really.  I'm really glad I live at time this is possible. Contains slightly NSFW language. (Via B.E.)

Falling Cranes

"Why Cranes Keep Falling". (Via H.R.)

"Tetraquark" Particle"?

"Physicists May Have Discovered a New 'Tetraquark' Particle"

Dazzling Flying Machines

Raffaello D'Andrea: "Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future". 

(If you want the short version, just skip to the final 3 minutes for the demo.)

Wearing EnChroma’s Color Blindness-Fixing Glasses For One Month

"Life in Technicolor: One month wearing EnChroma's color blindness-fixing glasses"

New Blue

"Licensing agreement reached on brilliant new blue pigment discovered by happy accident".

Story from last year, but I hadn't heard of this until now. (Via Virginia Postrel and H.R.)

Dino Killer Update

"We Finally Know How Much the Dino-Killing Asteroid Reshaped Earth"

Milky Way Map

"Marvel at the Newest Map of the Milky Way"

(Update: Link was broken, now fixed!)

Classic Video Games Playable Via Web Browser

"13 classic video games you can play right now in your web browser"

Internet And Elections

"How the Internet flips elections and alters our thoughts".

If the internet can alter consumer shopping preferences, it's at least plausible that it could alter voter election results.

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2016

MIT Technology Review: "10 Breakthrough Technologies 2016"

Google Image Locator

"Google Unveils Neural Network with 'Superhuman' Ability to Determine the Location of Almost Any Image"

The Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard: "Daily Accounts of a Muggle IT Guy working at Hogwarts"

Lord Of The Rings Music

"Lord Of The Rings: How Music Elevates Story". Great discussion of leitmotif.

DIY Diabetes Update

NYT: "A Do-It-Yourself Revolution in Diabetes Care"

Dark Spider

"The Spider That Crawls the Dark Web Looking for Stolen Data"

The World's Worst Airline

A review of Air Koryo, "the world's worst airline".

Quants 2.0

NYT: "A New Breed of Trader on Wall Street: Coders With a PhD"

Fancy MIrror

"NHTSA Just Approved GM's Fancy New Rear-View Camera Mirror". (Via H.R.)

More Space Filling Curves

"Fractal charm: Space filling curves"



And his earlier video on space filling curves:

Sarah Parcak, Space Archaeologist

Wired: "Sarah Parcak Is a Space Archaeologist. Soon You Will Be Too." (Via B.E.)

The Artificial Universe That Creates Itself

"Inside the Artificial Universe That Creates Itself"

Stethoscopes

"Why Are Stethoscopes Still a Thing?"

Single Time Zone

Washington Post: "The radical plan to destroy time zones". (Via Tyler Cowen.)

10 Ways To Have A Better Conversation

Celeste Headlee: "10 ways to have a better conversation".  (Via Z.S.)

Technology Vs. Social Skills

"Texting Isn't the First New Technology Thought to Impair Social Skills"

The Science of Persuasion

"How to change someone's mind, according to science"

Voiceover Tricks For Drug Side Effects

"How drug ad narrators take the scariness out of side effects"

Chess Hustler Vs. Grandmaster

"New York Chess Hustler Talks a Lot of Trash, Doesn't Realize His Opponent Is a Grandmaster"

The Birth Of The Shopping Cart

"How a Basket on Wheels Revolutionized Grocery Shopping"

Sheep Herding Seen From Above

Video: "Mesmerising Mass Sheep Herding"

Bad Girl Scout Cookies

 Bad Girl Scout Cookies.

A sample:

Hsieh Forbes Column: Americans Love This Deadly Technology

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "Americans Love This Deadly Technology".

The theme: Americans are willing to accept 32,000 deaths per year as the price of freedom.

Apple Protecting Privacy

"Apple is refusing FBI demands to hack the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters".

Obscure Math

Junaid Mubeen: "I no longer understand my PhD dissertation (and what this means for Mathematics Education)". (Via P.O.)

Schneier On Internet Of Things

Bruce Schneier: "The Internet Of Things Will Be The World's Biggest Robot"

Self-Driivng Office Chairs

"Nissan's automated office chairs are equal parts awesome and scary". (Via Tyler Cowen.)

The Robot Will See You Now

Forbes: "The Robot Is In, And It Will See You Now".

A fun piece on the future of medicine, written by one of my practice partners Dr. Jason Kelly.

Universal Translators Soon?

WSJ: "The Language Barrier Is About to Fall"

Computer Voices

NYT: "Creating a Computer Voice That People Like"

Mini-Brains

"With a few skin cells, scientists can make mini, thinking version of your brain". (Via Dave Jilk.)

Bacteria and Cirrhosis

"What really causes hepatic cirrhosis?"

It might be gut bacteria.

Neuroscience and Free Will

"Neuroscience and Free Will Are Rethinking Their Divorce"

Papal Infallibility

"What's the deal with papal infallibility?"

Time Travel In Star Trek

"Trek at 50: The quest for a unifying theory of time travel in Star Trek"

Landing A 737

"Here's What to Do If Both Your Pilots Die on a 737"

Please Help A Nigerian Astronaut

"Nigerian astronaut lost in space needs $3m to get home". (Via H.R.)

How to Survive Falling Through the Ice

NYT: "How to Survive Falling Through the Ice". (Via Marginal Revolution.)

As the article notes, there is a medical aphorism that says, "Nobody is dead until warm and dead."

Gravitational Waves Overview

"Physicists Are Freaking Out About Gravitational Waves and You Should Too". (Via H.R.)

And xkcd on gravitational waves:

Why People Visit the Emergency Room

"Why People Visit the Emergency Room: These are the top 250 products that people injure themselves on or with in a year"

Economics of Food Truck Location

"Why Food Trucks Locate Where They Do". (Via Tyler Cowen.)

CPU External Design

"How CPUs work: A closer look at exterior processor design"

Unregistered Playing Cards

Thai police arrest elderly bridge players in Pattaya. Their crime: "possessing too many unregistered playing cards."

Google AI Counts As "Driver"

"Google's Self-Driving AI Counts as a 'Driver,' According to the Feds"

Speed Dating for Rabbits

NYT: "Speed Dating for Rabbits"

Search Engine Matches Any Simpsons Quote With Its Still

"Epic 'Frinkiac' Search Engine Matches Any Simpsons Quote With Its Still"

Bad Astronaut Food

"The Care and Feeding of Astronauts: Early space travelers faced darkness, danger and truly terrible food".

Plus you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about the phenomenon of the "wet burp".

Even Virtual Assistants Are Sexually Harassed

CNN: "Even virtual assistants are sexually harassed"

Self-Refilling Water Bottle

"This Water Bottle Refills Itself From Moisture in the Air"

Low-Hanging Fruit?

"Should You Literally Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit?"

Short answer: No.

The Paradox Of Unanimity

David Post: "The paradox of unanimity"

Laser Suturing

"Someday, Suturing a Wound Will Involve Lasers"

Signatures of Alien Life

"Scientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life"

Negotiation Tip

"When Negotiating a Price, Never Bid with a Round Number". (Via Tyler Cowen.)

Flash Art

Nice "flash art" promotion for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. (Via R.W.)



Here "The Night Watch" painting featured in the video:

Fake Art In Museums

"Museums display perfect reproductions of fragile works and visitors can't tell the difference. Is nothing in art sacred?"

It's not much different than paying to attend a live concert, but hearing a lip-sync performance.

Not Dead Yet

Washington Post: "Wife crashes her own funeral, horrifying her husband, who had paid to have her killed".

I'm glad there was some justice at the end.

Thor's Well

Thor's Well: "On the Oregon coast there is a natural hole that seems to be draining the sea".

Movie Plot Generator

"Movie Plot Generator"

Retracting Papers

"Why is it so damn hard to get a paper retracted?"

Gravitational Waves

"After 100 years, scientists are finally closing in on Einstein's ripples". (Via H.R.)

Inmates' Last Words

"Psychologists Analyzed a Big Collection of Condemned Inmates’ Last Words"

Slinky Skills

"Watch This Guy Show Off His Slinky Kung Fu Skills"

LIDAR-Powered Robot Vacuum

"A LIDAR-powered robot vacuum is my maid now". (Via H.R.)

A Theory Of Jerks

Aeon: "A theory of jerks"

Could You Outrun a Hungry Tyrannosaur?

"Could You Outrun a Hungry Tyrannosaur?"

Short answer: Probably, yes.

6 Star Wars Characters Meet Their New Equivalents

Hah!: "6 Star Wars Characters Meet Their New Equivalents". (Contains spoilers.)

Correlation Game

"Online Game Tests Your Statistical Abilities And It's Surprisingly Fun".

Direct link to "Guess The Correlation".

Arranging Tennis Balls

"How many ways can you arrange 128 tennis balls? Researchers solve an apparently impossible problem".

Worst Wifi Password Ever

Hah!: "Worst Wifi Password Ever".

"It's super easy, 'fourwordsalluppercase'." (Via A.O.)

Resting Bitch Face Explained

Washington Post: "Scientists have discovered what causes Resting Bitch Face"

Here's the original mock-PSA video about "Bitchy Resting Face"

An AI That Annoys Telemarketers

"Today's Hero Made an AI That Annoys Telemarketers For As Long As Possible". (Via H.R.)

Bonus feature:

[A]nyone can connect telemarketers calling and harassing them to Anderson’s auto-responding robot using the simple instructions he’s posted to his site:

1. Press “add call”
2. Dial my robot at 214-666-4321 While you’re dialing, keep chatting into your phone like you’re trying to get Mr. Jones (“yeah – phone for you”, “okay, he’s coming hang on…”, etc)
3. Press “Add call” or “Merge call” or “Conference” or whatever will add the robot to the conversation.
4. MUTE YOURSELF so your background noise doesn’t affect the conversation.
5. Listen to the call, and hang up when the telemarketer hangs up.

Cell-Site Simulators And Law Enforcement

"Policing and privacy: The StingRay's tale"

Earth + Theia = Moon

"New Evidence For 4.5 Billion Year Old Impact That Formed Our Moon". (Via Alex Knapp.)

Tiny Lens

"Graphene optical lens a billionth of a meter thick breaks the diffraction limit". (Via H.R.)

Selfie Fatalities

"The Tragic Data Behind Selfie Fatalities". 

In particular, "One-third of all people who met their demise in the midst of a selfie fell from heights — most commonly, a cliff or a building."

Korean Girls Try American Barbecue For First Time

"Korean Girls Try American Barbecue for the First Time".   Yum, ribs!  (Via Instapundit.)

State Bans on Phone Encryption Are Moronic

Andy Greenberg: "Why Proposed State Bans on Phone Encryption Are Moronic"

Spam And China

"Spam Trail Leads to China's Three Largest Banks"

Earth's Winds

Near realtime map of the world's winds (updated every 3 hours).

Note: If you click on a location, you get the coordinates, wind direction, and wind speed for that location.

Fear Of Irrational Numbers

"How a Mathematical Superstition Stultified Algebra for Over a Thousand Years". (Via H.R.)